_P'sachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.
The fire from which Abraham is here said to be delivered may
simply refer to his deliverance by the hand of God from Ur of
the Chaldees; Ur meaning "fire," and being the name of a place
celebrated for fire worship. The Midrash (p. 20) says, "When the
wicked Nimrod cast Abraham into the furnace, Gabriel said, 'Lord
of the universe! permit me to deliver this holy one from the
fire!' But the Lord made answer, 'I am the One Supreme in my
world, and he is supreme in his; it is fitting therefore that
the Supreme should rescue the supreme.'"
Abraham was a giant of giants; his height was as that of seventy-four
men put together. His food, his drink, and his strength were in the
proportion of seventy-four men's to one man's. He built an iron city for
the abode of his seventeen children by Keturah, the walls of which were
so lofty that the sun never penetrated them: he gave them a bowl full of
precious stones, the brilliancy of which supplied them with light in the
absence of the sun.
_Sophrim_, chap. 21.
Abraham our father had a precious stone suspended from his neck, and
every sick person that gazed upon it was immediately healed of his
disease. But when Abraham died, God hung up the stone on the sphere of
the sun.
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